James Lorimer (South African politician)

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James Lorimer (born 19 February 1962) is a South African politician with the Democratic Alliance (DA). He has been a Member of Parliament since 2009, representing Linden in Gauteng. Since 2019 he has been the DA’s Shadow Minister of Environmental Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries. Earlier in his career he has served as a deputy spokesperson for defence and basic education, and as Shadow Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as well as Mineral Resources.

Lorimer began his career as a journalist while at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he earned a BA. He worked for Capital Radio and later edited it, while also doing freelance work for NPR and CBC. He was a morning news anchor on Radio 702 during South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, then founded Network Radio Services and served as its CEO for four years. From 1999 he worked as a media consultant and trainer in several countries.

In 2003 he entered politics as media director to Tony Leon, leader of the DA, and later joined the DA’s national media team and served as media and research director for the DA caucus in the Gauteng Legislature. He is married to Paddi Clay and they have one son. His interests include angling and oriental studies.